Worcester Election Commission rules on observers become suggestions

The Election Commission last night tweaked the protocol it had previously established for observers at the polls for Tuesday's election.

While the revised rules pretty much mirror the intent of those that poll workers and police officers have already trained on, they are no longer considered requirements but rather optional for observers.

Commission Chairwoman Diane C. Mohieldin said the revised protocol was reviewed and approved by the secretary of state's office and the city's Law Department before last night's meeting.

Under the revised rules, anyone appearing at the polls on Tuesday wishing to act as an observer will be dealt with in the following manner:

•The person is to make himself or herself known to the warden of the polling place that he or she is there to observe so the warden can direct the person to the area designated for observers.

•The warden may request proof of identity, which need not be a photo ID. However, if the observer declines to provide the ID, the person may remain as an observer as long as he or she adheres to the secretary of state's rules for observers.

•The warden may prepare a paper name-sticker with the word “Observer” written on it and request that the observer wear it while at the polling location. However, if the observer declines to wear the sticker, he or she may remain as an observer.

•The warden will hand the observer a copy of the Oct. 25 memorandum from the secretary of state's office concerning observers at polls.

In addition, the warden will remind observers that they cannot take pictures or video in any manner that compromises the secrecy of any ballot; take pictures of voters in an effort to intimidate them; use public power sources; use cameras of any kind at the check-in table to take pictures of individual voters; talk on cell phones; converse with other observers or talk to voters or poll workers.

The revised rules will be mailed out today to the wardens. They will also be distributed to all other poll workers the day of the election and posted online Monday so poll workers can familiarize themselves with the new rules before Election Day.

The chief difference in the rules initially unanimously approved by the Election Commission and the ones that will now be put into place Tuesday is that they are no longer requirements, but rather suggestions.

The Election Commission pushed for greater accountability from election observers after allegations came out during the state primary Sept. 6 that some observers engaged in voter intimidation and voter suppression, which included challenging the legality of some voters and giving orders to poll workers.

There were also reports that some poll observers were illegally recording conversations between voters and poll workers.

To head off any chance of chaos at the polls in the Nov. 6 election, the Election Commission asked the secretary of state's office if it could adopt local rules for poll observers, including requirements that observers produce some form of identification and wear an identification badge.

When the commission did not hear back from the secretary of state's office when the training for poll workers was about to begin, a decision was made to incorporate those new rules as part of the training.

But the secretary of state's office earlier this week said the commission's new rules are inconsistent with state election laws, and ordered the commission to correct them.

Commissioner David Lapierre questioned how things became so confusing. He said staff from the secretary of state's office told him it offered to assist the city in training regarding observers, and it asked for the training materials used by local election officials for poll workers.

He said he was told that City Clerk David J. Rushford did not accept the offer for training assistance and the state office did not receive the training materials it had asked for.

“This is unacceptable,” Mr. Lapierre said. “We need to move forward to do everything required to maintain the integrity of the election, but I think this is something we need to talk about after the election. The actions taken were unacceptable.”

But Mr. Rushford said his office had to wait “seven to eight weeks” for the secretary of state's office to respond to the new rules the Election Commission wanted to implement, and by the time it did respond the schedule had already been set for the training of poll workers in Worcester.

He added that the Election Commission did provide the training materials requested by the secretary of state's office.

“We invited the secretary of state's office to come to our training sessions; they chose not to come,” Mr. Rushford said.

Meanwhile, Mayor Joseph M. Petty praised the Election Commission for all its work and moving swiftly to adopt new rules governing observers after problems arose during the state primary.

He said he also has full confidence in the work done by the Election Commission, Mr. Rushford and Joshua Meduna, assistant director of elections.

“These people have done a great job; I expect there should be no problems at the polls on Tuesday,” Mr. Petty said. “People will be able to vote freely and without impediments. Everything should go smoothly on Election Day.”